Author's Note: Yeah, you guys can all hate me forever for leaving this story for so long, but here's an update. Woohoo? Thanks for all the feedback, by the way. I seriously have the best readers. :)

So I've received a question about the timeline for this story, and its timeline and Possession's were originally supposed to be like it was at the very end of the manga. It was supposed to be like everything had already happened, but then Mashima decided he was going to throwing all these curve-balls at us like time-skips and terrifying plot lines where several people die and then my whole timeline was screwed up. Thus, it's hard for me even to place when these stories happen. One day, I may go back and edit, but for now, you can choose.

Juvia's hard to write. She's a caricature to me, so I've tried to keep some of those qualities while also making her seem a little more human. Hopefully it's come off okay. I'd also like to point out that I don't think she's always as violent as I've written her in this chapter...

This chapter is dedicated to Panda (Mrs. HopeEstheim)! Happy birthday! I'm sorry this is up late, but I was working earlier and didn't have time to type this and edit until now. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading this!

You Stole the Rain by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 3 – Everything About You

This woman's voice grated on Juvia's ears mercilessly, the blunette shooting daggers (or perhaps swords, or cannonballs…or cannonballs surrounded by swords) at the back of the blonde's head. Juvia was annoyed with this woman. In fact, "annoyed" was probably the tamest word to use for how the water mage currently felt for the disgusting client she was escorting today.

Once upon a time, the ex-Phantom Lord member had been suspicious of all the other girls in Gray's life. She'd once thought that Lucy was her rival in love until she finally discovered just how close the stellar spirit mage was with the fire dragon slayer. From then on, it had been clear that she no longer had to worry about Lucy. Unfortunately, it had been recently that she found out that it was actually Natsu she had to worry about, but at least her darling ice mage appeared to be faithful to her sex.

Ultear, too, Juvia suspected wanted to steal Gray as well, but Crime Sorcière was never around anyway. Juvia hadn't really worried too much on that end. Besides, Ultear hadn't really tried anything to take Gray for herself, so jealousy had mostly been kept to a minimum.

This stupid woman, though, was definitely after her Gray-sama! She kept clutching his arm and talking about his muscles and complimenting the Fairy Tail mage at every chance she got. Juvia absolutely hated it. She hated everything about that pasty-faced, stick-thin, blonde spoiled brat. After all, what kind of person needed to hire mages to be escorted to the next town when she had a carriage, several body guards, and servants following her around? This mission was paying a lot too, and considering neither she nor Gray were really financially comfortable, it seemed like an easy enough mission. Of course, when Juvia had accepted the request, all she'd really known was that it was a simple, high-paying mission that she would get to complete with the man she loved.

What Juvia hadn't suspected was that the client would make her want to kill someone nearly as much as she wanted to murder when somebody hurt her beloved. The girl's name was Kaya and she came from a family that was obscenely rich. Clearly the girl's father wanted his daughter absolutely secure when she left town, something the water mage couldn't fault a caring man for, but seriously, this girl was ridiculous. She'd bought so many clothes and items on their way out of town that Kaya couldn't even fit in the carriage anymore.

That was why she was walking, just like everyone else. Except unlike everyone else, she was pretty much draped all over Gray.

The worst part? Gray didn't seem to mind one bit.

Well…he didn't seem to mind, but he also didn't look all that happy about it. His features were pretty neutral about the whole situation, yet she couldn't stop the terrible image raging in her mind.

Gray was smiling at Kaya in all her hideousness and glancing at the girl like she was the most beautiful thing his eyes had ever fallen upon, like he was in awe from the sheer gorgeousness that was the spoiled woman. Kaya was giggling and covering her mouth with one hand while the other molested the ice mage's bicep shamelessly. They were talking like they loved each other. They were eying each other like they were lusting animals in heat. They were sparkling. Everything around them was sparkling.

"Oi, Juvia!"

Her eyes were wide with horror when she heard her name called, head snapping up quickly as her heart raced. The scene she'd thought up disappeared abruptly and she saw her mission partner glancing back at her with his usual indifferent look even though they were still walking. Seeing his expression so normal comforted her. It reminded her that that image wasn't real, and it didn't have to be real.

"G-Gray-sama!" she acknowledged him hurriedly.

"You okay back there?" he asked. "You seem kinda out of it."

"Juvia is fine," the water mage replied with a nod, trying to reassure him so that she wouldn't cause him any problems.

"Whatever you say." Gray shrugged and turned his head forward again, Juvia silently admiring his bare back. It wasn't until a second later that she noticed Kaya's head turned back to glare at the blunette, but the unpleasant woman's face returned ahead before Juvia could reciprocate.

Kaya was challenging her; the ex-Phantom Lord member knew exactly what the spoiled brat's stare of doom meant. There was certainly no way that Juvia would ever walk away from a fight for someone she loved. The problem was, this was a mission. It wasn't like she could openly battle this girl for her guild mate's affection when her opponent was the client. Unprofessionalism would make Gray lose his trust in her as a mission partner, and he would never want her on his team ever again—not to mention that Juvia really did have bills to pay as well, and it would do neither of them any favours if she lost them this job part-way through. She'd just have to find another way to make sure that this girl didn't worm her way any further into her love's life.

The blunette's mind drifted to their visit to the hot springs. Gray had always been the only one who could make her feel this warm inside. His kindness had taken the rain out of her life and his resolve always made her stronger. There was no possible way for her to love somebody else. He would always be that one to her. Always.

That was why this was so concerning. Her competition had never been this serious before, and to top it off, Gray was actually paying attention to her.

It…wasn't to say that he ignored the blunette, but he was never this receptive with her. He even seemed to be engaged in an enjoyable conversation with their client, talking animatedly. He seemed enthusiastic.

Why? He was never like this. What was Kaya doing that brought out this new side in Gray? Was she actually more than a spoiled daddy's girl? Was she actually that stunning? Was she… Was she…

Was she better than Juvia…?

The thought was very disconcerting, though she managed to brush it away. She couldn't afford to doubt herself right now, if only for the sake of this mission. Professionalism, professionalism. Gray-sama respected her as his partner. Even he was working hard to keep the rest of his clothes on. She had to respect his decision even if she didn't fully comprehend his actions. Her loyalty to him was infallible! Juvia Loxar was not a quitter!

At that thought, the water mage bit back her jealousy and settled for picturing the revolting blonde dying from various forms of cruel methods and went back to glaring at the female's back.

Not long after that, the group paused in their journey to settle down for lunch. Kaya's father had provided all meals, so at least there was some sort of up side to this mission. The servants lay a blanket out on the side of the path where pasty-face sat down, dragging Gray with her. Juvia chose a spot at the corner of the blanket, if only to keep an eye on the evil girl through her peripheral vision.

The blunette nibbled at the contents of her bento, unable to focus on her food due to the terrible events transpiring meters away—and she wasn't imagining it this time either. Gray very clearly had his own lunchbox. He'd been eating it quite happily until Kaya cut in with her own agenda.

Salmon, that's what it was. The poor little piece of dead fish was clutched tightly between the chopsticks of the woman who Juvia deemed to be the ugliest bitch in all of Magnolia. That wasn't the bad part though. That same slice of sashimi was now in front of Gray's mouth and still in Kaya's poison sticks.

She is trying to feed Gray-sama! the water mage thought in a mixture of horror and rage. Her initial reaction was to kill the stupid woman, but she held herself back the second she remembered her vow to finish this mission and keep the respect of her beloved. With that firmly in the front of her conscience, Juvia began gnashing her teeth violently, taking out her stress and anger on her meal instead.

"W-what are you…?" the ice mage regarded their client, looking in bewilderment at the orange meat he was presented with.

"Don't you like salmon?" pasty-face asked with a sickening smile.

Gray-sama likes tuna better! Juvia raged mentally, her body now quaking and glaring openly at the scene. She knew this from quiet observation. She knew this because she was his friend. She knew this because she was not a whoring slut that had never worked a day in her life. She knew.

And this bitch didn't know a thing.

"Well, yeah, but I have my own," he pointed out, gesturing to the pieces of salmon in his own bento.

"Oh, but mine are extra tasty!" the brat insisted innocently, though she obviously had ulterior motives. She moved her chopsticks closer to his face and Gray moved back accordingly. "You really should try it!"

"I'm good," the half-naked male refused politely, now looking a little nervous.

"Please try it? If you don't, I might cry," she pouted as she made a downcast face which Juvia assumed was supposed to be cute. This brat wasn't going to have eyes to cry with once Juvia was through with her.

She'd trapped him, though. If Kaya's father found out she'd cried on the way to town, their pay would be docked by half—half. Hell, it even said in their mission contract "we will not cause Kaya to cry", but there were servants here, and on the off chance pasty-face never mentioned a word of her tears to her father, those men certainly would.

Gray…had to eat the fish, Juvia knew… He had to eat the fish.

The water mage's grip tightened around her own chopsticks, physically and mentally straining to keep herself from decapitating their client even as some rather appealing visions of Kaya's death flowed through her mind. Her partner sent her an uneasy glance; he didn't know if she could hold it together because he had to eat the fish.

Her eyes were ablaze, not even looking at the male of her affections. She just hated that bitch so much and couldn't do a thing to stop this. She was angrier than she'd ever been in her life. Blood pounded in her ears and her mind went blank of everything besides murderous thoughts for the hussy. Gray didn't want to do what pasty-face wanted, but she was forcing him.

She was forcing him to eat the damn fish.

Gray stared at the little slice of salmon again as if he were afraid of it, then looked back at Juvia. His eyes never left her as he edged closer to the food on Kaya's utensils. He was eating the fish so that he could salvage this mission; the blunette knew she knew needed to control her actions so she wouldn't jeopardize their work.

Still, the chopsticks in her hand cracked in half and she bit her lip as her eyes were drawn to Gray's own lips. Closer and closer they got until his teeth grazed the tip of the raw meat. In one swift motion, he clenched that tip between his teeth, pulled the salmon away from the tainted sticks into his mouth, and swallowed.

Juvia let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It was over. He'd eaten this fish. And, more importantly, he hadn't touched the bitch's chopsticks.

No indirect kiss had been exchanged.

Thank Mavis.

She shakily went back to her own meal, desperately trying to suppress her fury by remembering that it could have been much, much worse. Nevertheless, the water mage kept an eye on her newest rival as she ate with her broken utensils. Gray was not enjoying this; she had to protect him as much as she could without screwing up the mission.

The rest of the afternoon went by quietly—well, "quietly" as in nothing dangerous happened to the group. Kaya was still drooling all over the dark-haired male and Juvia was forced to anchor herself to the memory of being in her Gray-sama's arms. She couldn't stand to watch the hideous pasty-face put her hands on his sacred skin, yet there wasn't a thing the blunette could do about it. Juvia had never gone so long without saying anything or taking some sort of action on a predator. She had to, though, for Gray-sama.

Her blood pressure was probably immeasurable by the time the daylight started to fade and their group needed to stop for the night. The servants made a fire while Gray quickly excused himself to use the bathroom as they began to eat, obviously trying to avoid ending up in the same position he'd gotten stuck in at lunch. This was the moment that the servants decided to break out the sake, which Juvia politely refused; it was common knowledge that drinking during a mission was unprofessional and, more importantly, dangerous (unless you were Cana). Instead, she quietly munched on her food and watched Kaya down numerous little glasses of alcohol, shooting small glances at her gloriously handsome partner who was actually hiding behind the carriage. How she longed to be next to him…

"Oh, sexy boy! Are you back yet? I thought you only wanted to peeeeee!" the blonde squealed loudly, flailing her arms around with a glass still in hand. Some of her bodyguards were trying to calm her down, lest she draw attention to them while it was dark. After all, her carriage was basically, for a bandit, the equivalent to how Juvia felt for Gray. In other words, it was unwise for the spoiled brat to be so noisy during the night—especially about Juvia's Gray-sama! If bandits didn't come around and start an attack, Juvia might attempt one herself.

"Sexy boy! Come back! I wanna touch your muscles s'more! I wanna touch your—"

At that moment, one of Kaya's bodyguards lifted her up and began carrying her to her tent, which the servants had set up quite nicely. It was a good thing too, because Juvia had seriously been dangerously close to her limit in holding back. Really, this girl was just as bad as Natsu! All she cared about was the ice mage's good looks!

"Is she gone?" Gray whispered to her from his obscure area.

She listened for a moment, carefully distinguishing Kaya screaming at the guard that she wasn't tired and the guard telling her that it was "bedtime". Juvia then nodded in confirmation so that her fellow guildie could finally eat.

He let out an agonized "Yes!" before grabbing his meal from inside the carriage and walked over to sit next to her. "Jeez, what an annoying chick."

To hear those words came from his mouth was like gold falling from the sky; it was wonderful. Of course, Gray had never acted like he really enjoyed the sick pasty-face, but Juvia needed a little bit of reassurance. She was terrified of having someone take such a perfect being torn away from her. She needed to have him in her life, whether it was as a friend or a lover…but she didn't want anyone else to have him either. She was willing to share him to a certain extent, but if the ice-maker were to have a girlfriend that wasn't Juvia…there was no way she could handle it.

"Juvia does not want a client like that ever again," the water mage agreed, coming out of her thoughts.

"No kidding," he snorted in response. "I really didn't think you could stop yourself from killing her."

Juvia's jaw dropped, baffled by his assumption of her. "Juvia would never compromise such an important mission!"

"I know you wouldn't, but I could see how much you wanted to kill her. I thought you actually might explode when she tried to feed me," the male replied, casually popping a clump of rice into his mouth.

"G-Gray-sama knew of Juvia's feelings today?" she asked, blushing in embarrassment.

"You aren't exactly subtle," he pointed out after swallowing. "Besides, this isn't the first time you've overreacted."

"Juvia did-did not know she was so transparent…" the ex-Phantom Lord member murmured softly, staring at the ground. "Gray-sama has never said anything before."

"No,it's easy enough to see when I think about it. I just never bothered to notice before."

She looked up at him abruptly, shocked by the anger laced in his voice. Gray was not yelling at her; he was yelling at himself. Juvia didn't understand why it upset him so much that he hadn't taken her feelings seriously before. She knew well enough that that was simply the way he was. Gray was mostly a laid-back guy that loved a challenge, and his determination could give anyone strength. He loved the cold weather, fighting, and all of his friends, which was why it was enough to be one of them. She recognized that he was not interested in love or relationships, but that didn't stop her from loving him and wishing for a future with him. She never once faulted him for being the man he was. How could he?

"Gray-sama should not be angry at himself. He is the most wonderful person Juvia has ever met!" she scolded him firmly, but his eyes remained hard.

"You're biased. You're in love with me," Gray countered.

"But Juvia is right! Gray-sama is wonderful. He is strong and kind and—"

"Stop," he cut her off swiftly, but it was his eyes that really ceased the words flowing from her mouth. Those eyes were stern and full of loathing—self-loathing. "You need to stop praising me and realize that I'm not that guy you make me out to be. I mean, fuck, you deserve so much better than me."

Why did he think that of himself? Why…did he think she was lying? She knew that sometimes people could not understand her feelings, but that didn't mean she was deluded. She knew exactly who he was. She knew his darker side, his disgusting side, and his bad habits. Everyone had them and Juvia didn't care that any of those existed! She loved all of him! She'd told him before, and somehow, she needed to get him to see that it was the truth.

Feeling particularly bold, she grabbed onto his arm, meeting his intense gaze with her own. He was not the only one who could be stubborn.

"It," she began determinedly, "is not about what Juvia deserves; it is about what Juvia wants, and Juvia wants Gray-sama, even if he does not want Juvia in the same way."

He held her eyes for a few moments before sighing pressing his palm to his forehead. The ice mage raised his knees, draping his arms over them and laying his bento on the ground. "You know…exactly what you want…"

He looked up into the dark sky, dotted only with the lights of the stars. "You're lucky."

The blunette tilted her head in puzzlement, uncertain of what he meant by that, but didn't say anything. She let him get his thoughts together as she removed her hand from his skin, flushing hotly at her own audacity from only minutes earlier. She could only hope that her proclamation had at least made him get out of that state of shame. What he'd said after…Juvia had always been someone who knew what she wanted. When it came to Gray, it was no different.

When he finally turned to face her again, he seemed to be slightly less conflicted, but still not entirely sure of himself. Nevertheless, he spoke with only the conviction her Gray-sama could speak with.

"Look, Juvia… I can't say that I'll give you what you want, but you sure as hell don't need to feel threatened by anyone," Gray told her seriously. "You don't need to feel angry when it comes to Kaya or anyone else, because I'm right here. I'm beside you, and I ain't going anywhere, got it?"

She trembled at his words, touched by his declaration and feeling something lift from her chest that she never knew was there. The water mage understood that she no longer needed to worry about the females chasing after her Gray-sama. She trusted in him whole-heartedly, and if she said that nobody was going to take him away from her, she was going to believe him. It was not from blind faith that his word was true to her; it was from instinct—something that had never betrayed her in her life—and experience. Gray had not let her down before, and he wasn't going to.

"T-thank you, Gray-sama," Juvia stuttered out happily.

"Yeah, whatever," the ice-maker brushed off her gratitude with what appeared to be embarrassment.

Red staining his cheeks now, he picked up his container again and started back at his food. Juvia smiled quietly as she continued on her own meal that had been neglected while they had been within their conversation. There would be no more horrible nightmares of disgusting girls stealing Gray away from her. There would be no more rivalries with other females, because Juvia had already been guaranteed a win. There would be no more fright in her heart, knowing that he wanted to be by her side.

She could love freely and fearlessly.

Some might find her crazy for it, but that was all she really needed. What she wanted, however, was a different matter. Whatever the case, she had enough to be happy and that was the bottom line. Nobody was going to take him away from her.

"Would Gray-sama like some of Juvia's sashimi?" the blunette enquired cheerfully, holding out her bento in offering.

He stared at her incredulously. "You know, I do have my own."

Juvia was undeterred, fully aware of the similarities between lunch and the current situation. "Yes, but Gray-sama likes tuna much more than salmon," she replied, gesturing to her appreciable amount of the pinkish sashimi.

Gray just stared for another moment before shaking his head and snickering, but she could see that the smile on his face was real. "Yes…yes he does."